October 6, 2012

The Tea Room by Antique Patisserie - Traditional Afternoon Tea

Chloris and I went out for one of our ladies' afternoons last Tuesday. This time we went to The Tea Room by Antique Patisserie in Central. We chose this after having seen some pictures filled with undescribable cuteness. Well, we were most certainly not disappointed! The 16-seat salon at Antique Patisserie is all girly girls could hope for: French décor, laced tablecloth, flowery tableware, and well kept details make of this place one to be remembered. Upon arrival at the venue, our first delightful surprise: Antique Patisserie has about 40 teas to choose from, and they bring the samples of all of them to your table for you to smell and choose! They accompany this with a detailed description of each of the teas, so that you make sure to choose the right one!

The tea samples

I went for Thé du Loup, a black vanilla-based tea which unfortunately was not good at all. Chloris had the 1842, 29 Aout green tea and she said it was delicious. Once we had made our tea choices, we were served a refreshment consisting of blueberries and strawberries with whipped cream. Soon after, our teas arrived and so did our three-tiered Traditional Afternoon Tea set. The waitress provided a nice explanation on each of the products in our set.

On the top layer we had 4 scones: 2 earl-grey scones, 1 raisin scone and 1 plain. There were also 4 puff pastries, 2 filled with sausage and 2 with spinach. I loooved the earl-grey scone, it was my favorite part of the set. Too bad the scones were not served with Devonshire clotted cream and were only served with butter and jam instead.On the middle layer were the savories, consisting of 6 toasts: 2 egg&mayo, 2 bruschettas and 2 melon with parma ham. The bottom layer came with the sweet treats, namely 4 macarons, 2 chocolate cakes, 2 earl-grey cheesecakes and 2 green tea & chocolate mousee cakes. I disliked the fact that no hot water refill was offered to us during the whole time, and you couldn't really ask for it since the waitresses disappeared inside the kitchen and were never to be seen again until it was time to leave and they opened the door for us. The Tea Room does reservations and it's in fact most recommended that you do reserve a table, specially for weekends or holidays. When you do the reservation you need to prepay the afternoon tea set of your choice (3 or 2 layers). It's the first time I've seen something like this but I guess it's about making sure everyone shows up given few seats at the tea salon. Antique Patisserie has three sittings, at 12.30, at 3 and at 5.30. We went for the one from 3 to 5.30, the most usual time for an afternoon tea. I loved the fact that this set came with all the pieces doubled so that we didn't have to be cutting to share as with other sets. But then I guess this is expected given the fact that this set is as expensive as the ones in a 5* hotel!

Visited on: 02 October, 2012

Price: Traditional Afternoon Tea set for two: HK$430

Overall Quality: 4.5* {I didn't like the cakes on the bottom layer that much}

Value for Money: 4.5*

Would I recommend it? I totally do recommend this. It's more suitable for two {or a group of} girlfriends than to go with your boyfriend. I'm not sure whether he would appreciate so much cuteness!